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Scott Bessent
Scott Bessent
Treasury Secretary, US Treasury
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Bessent WARNS: The world has NEVER seen anything like this…

📅 Sep 23, 2026 Fox News 13 MIN 403755 VIEWS 40 SEGMENTS · 3 SPEAKERS
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discuss U.S.-China relations as President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington D.C., as well as artificial intelligence and Iran on ‘Special Report.’ #fox #foxnews #media #breakingnews #us #usa #new #news #breaking #specialreport #scottbessent #bessent #iran #iranian #unitednations #china #xijinping #xi #washingtondc #washington #dc #artificialintelligence #ai #foreignpolicy #geopolitics #middleeast #treasury #sanctions Don’t just watch Fox News—be part of it. Become a Fox News Patriot today. https://youtube.com/foxnews/join Subscribe to Fox News: https://bit.ly...

What Scott Bessent said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed extending the Bosan agreement with China until January 10, following a 12-hour meeting on Sunday and an unscheduled meeting that day. He expressed uncertainty about a bigger deal, noting Chinese deliverables that have not been perfect. Bessent highlighted China's $25 million tons of soybean purchases and said they are behind on $17 billion of other ag commitments. On inflation, he distinguished headline from core inflation, citing core inflation at 2.4%, the lowest in five years, and predicted oil prices will drop after the Iran conflict. He defended the economy, citing strong PMI numbers, over a million private sector jobs, and real wage growth. On AI, he expects China to agree to a hotline, and dismissed reports of him becoming AI czar, saying President Trump is the AI czar. He detailed Operation Economic Outcast, claiming 80-90% of external flights from Iran shut down, and discussed sanctioning banks in Egypt, Turkey, and Russia, while keeping Chinese banks off the table for now.

Key takeaways

  1. Extended the Bosan agreement with China from November 10 to January 10, giving two more months for negotiations.
  2. Core inflation is at 2.4%, the lowest in five years, and energy supply shock won't move through to core inflation.
  3. Iran sanctions have shut down 80-90% of external flights, and oil flows are at 10-15 million barrels a day, down from 20 before conflict.
  4. China has purchased $25 million tons of soybeans but is behind on $17 billion of other agricultural commitments.
  5. Believes China will agree to an AI hotline, though details are yet to be determined.

Numbers and commitments

FigureWhat it refers toTypeAt
January 10 Extended Bosan agreement end date timeline 0:22
$25 million tons Soybean purchases committed by China metric 2:57
$17 billion Other agricultural commitments by China metric 2:57
80 to 90 percent External flights from Iran shut down metric 8:56
10 and 15, sometimes 17 million barrels a day Oil flow through Strait metric 8:56
$1.8 billion Funds funneled by Egyptian bank branch closed metric 10:33
50,000 Iranian population killed by regime metric 11:09
3.5 to 3.7 percent Median wage growth metric 12:35
1.3 million jobs Private sector jobs created metric 12:35

Chapters

  1. 0:00Bosan agreement extension with China
  2. 2:57Chinese trade commitments and ag purchases
  3. 4:39Inflation outlook and core inflation
  4. 5:28Economy strength and job creation
  5. 6:50AI hotline with China and AI czar
  6. 8:56Iran sanctions and oil flows
  7. 10:33Bank sanctions and Iran resilience
  8. 11:09Iran regime outcomes and wage growth

Questions asked in this interview

12
  1. 0:01It was not scheduled. What came out of that?
  2. 1:20Do you think a bigger deal can be made in that time?
  3. 1:49For this meeting, what could the president potentially walk away tangibly with?
  4. 2:50Could they maybe come from the political aspect before November?
  5. 4:06And how much does it affect our economy as you look at inflation overall?
  6. 5:20What do you tell them about the state of the economy?
  7. 6:30Did your meeting suggest that they would?
  8. 7:28Would it be for emergencies, this hotline, or is it yet to be determined?
  9. 7:41There is some reporting this week that you're a leading candidate to be the president's new AI czar. Has the president asked you?
  10. 8:03Was that a signal, this liability question about companies, is more about, it's the humans?
  11. 8:44A month in, is it working?
  12. 10:19Are they off the table now because you're dealing with Beijing?
Bret Baier 0:01 ↗
President Trump and Xi, he's landed here in D.C. Let's get a preview from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here. Xi just landed, his first visit in more than a decade. You met with a top negotiator today. It was not scheduled. What came out of that?
Scott Bessent 0:22 ↗
We had a very extended meeting on Sunday in New York. This is the fellow who leads their economic and trade team. We met for about 12 hours on Sunday, and we still had some unfinished business. We met today to see if we could do a bigger deal as opposed to just a series of smaller things. We have agreed today that we will extend what we call the Bosan agreement, the détente, economic détente between the two countries that was scheduled to end on November 10. That's going to be extended until January 10, to give us more time to see what we can do on the economic front. And we had a very productive Sunday. We had a very productive meeting this morning.
Bret Baier 1:14 ↗
So it's going to be --
Scott Bessent 1:17 ↗
Two more months.
Bret Baier 1:20 ↗
Two more months. Purportedly the Chinese wanted two years. Do you think a bigger deal can be made in that time?
Scott Bessent 1:26 ↗
I don't know if a bigger deal can be done. I don't know if we'll just roll the current deal. There are some deliverables that have not been perfect on the Chinese side, so we also want to see, now that we've sat down and told them our examinations, to see if over the coming months they could be a bit more fulsome in enacting the agreement.
Bret Baier 1:49 ↗
For this meeting, what could the president potentially walk away tangibly with?
Scott Bessent 1:55 ↗
Good thing, Bret, this is our second in-person meeting. There is a chance they may have a historic four meetings between the most powerful country in the world and the second largest economy in the world. This visit to Shenzhen for a conference in November, and then President Xi coming for the G20 in Doral. Many of the things that were begun in Beijing, when we see whether there are not critical tariffs we take the -- that's the Board of Trade, 30 by 30. We're going to see probably some announcements of maybe financial services, ag purchases. There is quite a bit going on here.
Bret Baier 2:50 ↗
For the ag purchases, we've heard those before. Farmers have heard them. Could they maybe come from the political aspect before November?
Scott Bessent 2:57 ↗
Well, what we want to ensure is that they are meeting their obligations. The Chinese have been very good thus far about meeting their obligations this year. They have agreed to buy $25 million tons of soybeans, and they have been very fulsome in those. They have about $17 billion of other ag commitments that we think they are a little behind schedule on, and we're encouraging them to pick those up.
Bret Baier 3:29 ↗
I talked to the president in Beijing about the price of gas and how he looked at it. And when he was in Beijing, here's what he said. Gasoline prices in America are still high, painfully high.
Donald Trump 3:45 ↗
They will drop like a rock once it is over.
Bret Baier 3:47 ↗
Very high now and could be higher --
Donald Trump 3:50 ↗
Excuse me, lower than Biden's. Trade will be open and you will see gasoline prices drop, energy prices generally. I call it a little pain. Look, I agree. The oil goes up, but it's going to come down lower than it was.
Bret Baier 4:06 ↗
So tonight, crude oil prices are at roughly $92, ticking up a little bit. We did pull this stat, just a comparison on days when crude oil was above a hundred dollars a barrel. For President Obama, 308. First term of President Trump, zero. President Biden, 83, and 24 days above a hundred dollars a barrel. Where do you see this? And how much does it affect our economy as you look at inflation overall?
Scott Bessent 4:39 ↗
Bret, there are two kinds of inflation. There is headline inflation and core inflation. What we've seen is that we do have a supply shock here with the Iran conflict. We're going to get to the other side of this. On the other side, what we've seen is this does not move through to core inflation. Core inflation has moved down.
Bret Baier 4:59 ↗
2.4, lowest in five years.
Scott Bessent 5:02 ↗
Lowest in five years. That tells me once we're on the other side of the energy supply shock, as the president said in the video, that I actually believe, along with him, that oil prices will be much lower because we've seen a tremendous amount of supply come on just in this year.
Bret Baier 5:20 ↗
For the family in Ohio, for the family in Michigan, they are feeling something much different. What do you tell them about the state of the economy?
Scott Bessent 5:28 ↗
Well, the economy is very strong, and what I would say is, we saw the PMI numbers today, the strongest, the purchasing agreement index, strongest since 2021. We've seen over a million private sector jobs created. We're seeing real wage growth. So what I would say is that unlike under the Biden administration, where we had negative wage growth, we're seeing substantial wage growth here. That wage growth will continue going. We'll get to the other side of the Iran conflict. The energy prices will drop, and you will pick your purchasing power back up.

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Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA

Bessent, S. (2026, September 23). Bessent WARNS: The world has NEVER seen anything like this… [Interview transcript]. Fox News. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2959916/

MLA

Scott Bessent. "Bessent WARNS: The world has NEVER seen anything like this…." Fox News, 23 Sep. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2959916/.

BibTeX 
@misc{bessent2026_2959916,
  author       = {Scott Bessent},
  title        = {Bessent WARNS: The world has NEVER seen anything like this…},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Fox News. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {sep},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2959916/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}